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KIRKUS REVIEW

A collection of letters
from an endlessly fascinating writer and world traveler.

Using Dahl’s letters to
his mother from age 8, when most British boys headed off to boarding school,
until her death in 1967, British documentarian Sturrock (Storyteller: The Authorized
Biography of Roald Dahl, 2010) has picked just the right ones to show
his character and his development into a fun-loving, globe-trotting adult. The
only thing missing is some explanation of the schoolboy Briticisms—e.g.,
conkers, games of “fives” at school. In his letters to his mother, Dahl shared
nearly everything, from his antics in school, good and bad, to his colonial
life in Tanganyika, where life included a whole lot of drinking. The
unfortunate loss of her letters to him causes Sturrock to assume and surmise
her influence, but Dahl’s ability as an author is obvious in the tales he
passes on to her. In 1940, he crashed his plane in the Libyan desert. Badly
burned and with a severe concussion, he took months to convalesce in Alexandria.
Rejecting an offer of repatriation to Britain, he healed enough to return to
flying in Greece, although not for long. His headaches and blackouts finished
his air career. In a clear case of knowing the right people, he was posted to
Washington, D.C., as assistant air attaché in the British Embassy, where he met
countless celebrities and even spent a weekend at Hyde Park. C.S. Forester
asked him to write up a piece on the Royal Air Force, and when his publisher
saw it, his career was launched. It was mostly smooth sailing after that, with
articles in the Saturday Evening Post and a request from Walt
Disney to come to California to write a book about the RAF. In addition to
curating the letters, Sturrock provides a nice balance of context for each
period.

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